A new study released by the Global Gateway Alliance has shown that arrival wait times at New York area airports were shorter in terminals with self-service kiosks.
The organisation has identified the best and the worst times of day to pass through Customs at New York area airports.
Wait times were shorter in terminals with self-service kiosks, which allow arriving passengers to enter travel, citizenship and other information electronically before being processed by a customs officer.
Of the 20 longest average wait times during the entire year, 18 occurred at terminals without automated passport kiosks.
The report also established a correlation between manpower and Customs wait times: as the number of booths open decreases, the amount of time passengers wait in line increases.
The alliance had three recommendations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that processes people arriving from overseas:
1) increase staff during peak and non-peak hours, including moving staff between terminals to where additional staff is most needed to alleviate a backlog of flights
2) install self-serve kiosks in all terminals with international arrivals as Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks have dramatically reduced wait times at terminals, in some cases by as much as 20%
3) eliminate paper forms as CBP officers spend a fair amount of time handling and processing paper forms for each passenger
Global Gateway Alliance is a Manhattan-based group that lobbies for improvements to the region’s major airports.
N.B. Image credit: delta.com
